David Pollitt served 24 years for series of rapes

News-Times, The (Danbury, CT)

Published 7:00 pm, Friday, February 22, 2008

David Pollitt
, 54, was convicted of a series of rapes in the Rocky Hill and New London regions of Connecticut during the early 1980s. In several instances, he forced his way into the victim's home and threatened harm if the women didn't comply.

Throughout the court proceedings, Pollitt maintained his innocence and said the cases were matters of mistaken identity.

"That would be a damn lie," Pollitt said during his testimony when confronted with some of the allegations.

Court records of the cases are no longer available because the state destroys filings that are 20 years old if the defendant is no longer incarcerated.

Stories printed at the time in
The Hartford Courant
, however, point to a man who conducted a series of brutal rapes on unsuspecting women.

Pollitt, who was implicated in about six rapes dating back to 1978, was convicted in at least four of those cases and sentenced to a total of 45 years in prison. Some of the assaults reportedly occurred while Pollitt was free on bond from previous rape charges.

Pollitt declined to discuss the details of his convictions during an interview with The News-Times in December.

One of Pollitt's first convictions came in 1983, when a jury found him guilty of raping a 32-year-old woman in Old Lyme in April 1982, and attempting to rape a 19-year-old woman in Waterford in February 1982.

According to published reports at the time, the victim from Old Lyme said in her testimony that Pollitt entered an unlocked door to her home, took $20 from her purse, and demanded she remove her clothing to ensure she didn't follow him. He then reportedly raped her in the dining room, after removing her clothes himself.

The 19-year-old victim said her assailant fled the scene in a pickup truck when her 17-year-old brother came home from school.

Pollitt pleaded guilty under the Alford Doctrine in November 1984 to sexual assault charges stemming from two attacks in Rocky Hill. A plea under the doctrine means a defendant maintains his innocence but admits the state has enough evidence for a conviction.

According to published reports at the time, a woman with her infant daughter in her arms answered her front door and Pollitt forced them down a hallway, into the bedroom and onto the bed, where he attempted to rape her. The assault was cut short when a newspaper delivery boy rang the doorbell.

Pollitt had also pleaded guilty to raping a 17-year-old girl who was home alone in the western section of Rocky Hill on Oct. 20, 1981. Fingerprints taken from the scene matched those on record for Pollitt.

Attorney William Dow III, who represented Pollitt in the cases, said while his client continued to maintain his innocence, he plead guilty to the charges in light of "evidence of such dimensions," including the fingerprints.

Superior Court
Judge
Joseph Purtill
, while sentencing Pollitt in 1983, said there was "little likelihood of rehabiliation," commenting that Pollitt had terrorized his victims, causing them to suffer psychologically. He called Pollitt an "absolute danger to the community."

Appeals Pollitt filed on several of the convictions with the state
Supreme Court
were unsuccessful. He was released in September after serving 24 years of his prison sentence, which was reduced as part of the "good time" law in effect during his original sentencing. The law, which has since been repealed, allowed time to be removed from a sentence for good behavior.

Contact
Dirk Perrefort
at dperrefort@newstimes.com or at (203) 731-3358.